S"Gan had come aboard, a.s.sumed command and taken everything in stride-the R"Actolian"s proposal, the presence of the two S"Cotar and R"Gal. By watchend, all were seated with both ships" senior officers, in the deck four conference room-a small gray cave deep within the ship.
The admiral turned to Guan-Sharick, who was seated opposite her at the end of the table. "What"s your role in this, S"Cotar?"
"Our mission is to stop the AIs," said the trans.m.u.te. "That has been our mission since humanity revolted and escaped the AI universe. Our bodies are cloned, our memories and special abilities transferred."
"Ridiculous," said the admiral. "You can"t be endlessly cloned-each succeeding generation would have more defects than the previous. That"s a basic tenet of information theory."
"We"re cloned from original cells," said Lan-Asal.
"But . . ."
"I can vouch for them," said R"Gal. "They"re two of the five lieutenants of He who led the Revolt, the one you call the Nameless Emperor."
"You"re . . . human?" said John disbelievingly, looking at the S"Cotar.
"More than human, Harrison," said Guan-Sharick with an ironic smile.
"I don"t believe it," said the Terran. He turned to D"Trelna. "Do you?"
The commodore looked at the two white-uniformed figures. "We"ll find out, I think, someday. For now, I"m more concerned with their intentions than their true appearance. And R"Gal"-his eyes shifted to the AI-"the same goes for you."
"D"Trelna"s right, R"Gal," said S"Gan. "It"s fine that you vouch for them, but who"ll vouch for you?"
"We"re going to have to trust each other, Admiral," said R"Gal. "All of us. Disaster is certain, otherwise."
"Perhaps," said S"Gan. She looked at Guan-Sharick. "Tell me about this device the Combine developed."
Before the S"Cotar could speak, the admiral"s commlink chirped. She listened, spoke and disconnected, then sat silently for a moment, looking down at her folded hands. "R"Gal," she said finally, looking up, "I owe you an apology. Fleet did not acknowledge my last report." Her eyes went from face to face. "Rather, they"ve just listed me as killed in action, along with all my ships and crews. As for you, D"Trelna," she smiled humorlessly at the commodore, "you and Implacable Implacable have been declared corsair-shoot on sight. Combine T"Lan works quickly," she added. have been declared corsair-shoot on sight. Combine T"Lan works quickly," she added.
There was a long silence in the room, broken at last by Deliverance"s Deliverance"s Captain Y"Kor. "Why can"t we just go back to Prime Base and. expose the plot?"" Captain Y"Kor. "Why can"t we just go back to Prime Base and. expose the plot?""
"That"s what they expect you to do, Y"Kor," said L"Wrona. "There are probably ships sitting off home jump point right now, gunnery programming tied into your ship ID. You wouldn"t live long enough to see your own sun."
There was a sudden babble as everyone tried to speak.
S"Gan restored order, rapping her hand on the table. A worn Academy ring rang on the table as S"Gan rapped her hand on the traq wood. "I"ll listen to suggestions, not incipient hysteria," she said. "Anyone?"
G.o.ds! she looks tired, thought D"Trelna. And why not? Lost all but one ship, dropped like a plague by a corrupt FleetOps, the AIs coming and no one to believe her. Now is the time.
"If we"re to be corsairs, Admiral," said the commodore, "let"s act like corsairs."
"Explain, D"Trelna."
"Raid Combine T"Lan"s research and headquarters facility."
"Why?" she asked.
"Tell the admiral what you told us," D"Trelna said to the S"Cotar.
"Thirty centuries ago, Admiral," said the S"Cotar, "I was an Imperial Survey officer-a cover for searching out the Trel Cache. I found it. I spoke with its guardian. The guardian a.s.sured me we could have the weapon the Trel had used against the Fleet of the One, but that only a united and militant humanity could defeat the AIs, weapon or not.
"We laid our plans well, and with the help of R"Gal and others, created Pocsym, who created the biofabs, which, you will agree, have produced a united, militant humanity."
"You killed a lot of people to do that," said S"Gan coldly, gray eyes on the blonde.
Guan-Sharick shrugged and continued. "As you know, we"re now told that the weapon no longer exists, but that, ironically, Combine T"Lan has unknowingly produced a device that, with modifications, can recall the Twelfth Fleet of the House of S"Yal.
"Admiral, we need that device."
"The fleet that never returned," said the admiral, half to herself. She looked back at the S"Cotar. "Do you know what kind of ships the Twelfth had?"
"Mindslavers," said Guan-Sharick.
"Like Commodore D"Trelna, you"re willing to employ mindslavers against the AIs?"
"I"d use anything against them, Admiral," said Guan-Sharick.
Something in Guan-Sharick"s voice startled John, something he"d never heard there before-hatred.
"You have this device"s location and a description?" asked S"Gan. Guan-Sharick nodded.
S"Gan turned to D"Trelna. "You haven"t, by any chance, drafted a plan of attack on this facility, D"Trelna?"
"As a matter of fact," said the commodore, reaching for the complink, "I have."
18.
S"Hlu was a soft, green world, tucked away in Red Seven, a quadrant adjoining Red One and the K"Ronarin home systems. Only fifty light-years from K"Ronar, it was visited frequently by Fleet units patrolling against corsairs and escaped S"Cotar.
Thus, the Combine T"Lan port officer gave almost automatic clearance to the three Fleet craft descending from the L"Aal-cla.s.s cruiser that had just slipped into orbit.
Almost.
As they came in he ran a standard ID check-confirming that the Forward Seven Forward Seven was actually a.s.signed Red Seven- then ran it again when the complink flashed was actually a.s.signed Red Seven- then ran it again when the complink flashed DESTROYED-SECOND BATTLE OF H"SAK. DESTROYED-SECOND BATTLE OF H"SAK.
The port officer leaned forward as fresh data trailed onto the screen, then cursed softly as he read: INCOMING CRAFT IDENTIFIED AS ONE ARMED SHUTTLE AND TWO COMMANDO a.s.sAULT CRAFT. WANT SPECS??? INCOMING CRAFT IDENTIFIED AS ONE ARMED SHUTTLE AND TWO COMMANDO a.s.sAULT CRAFT. WANT SPECS???
Ignoring the query, the port officer slapped the general alarm call.
The klaxons had just started wailing as the control tower, ripped by fusion fire, exploded.
Sweeping out of the setting sun, the silver ships came in low over the ruined control tower, Mark 44"s strafing the complex. The scattering of return fire was quickly suppressed by the shuttle, which continued circling and strafing as the a.s.sault boats settled onto the roof of a squat, black building.
The sides of the a.s.sault boats dropped away with a faint pneumatic hiss.
"Follow me!" cried L"Wrona, leading the rush down the ramp and across the roof. Seventy-one black uniformed commandos and R"Gal swept after him, the smaller contingent from the second boat setting up a defense perimeter around the landing zone.
The rush stopped at the closed double doors of the lift.
"Visitors?" said R"Gal, pointing to the lift indicator. The machine was coming express from the ground level.
"Count on it," said the captain. He turned to the commandos. "Hostiles in the lift. Deploy."
The commandos took up positions, a black arc centered on the lift. As they waited, the alarm klaxons stopped hooting and the blaster fire between shuttle and ground positions fell off.
Please, thought L"Wrona, sighting two-handed on the center of the lift door, not the blades. He"d seen destroyed ones, and read Harrison"s action report on them-it was as close as he wanted to get.
The lift arrived, the doors hissing open on five layers of killer machines, red sensor scans moving balefully along the blue-steel edges of their blades.
"Fire!" shouted L"Wrona, squeezing off a bolt stream.
Blaster fire poured into the lift, obscuring it in exploding bursts of blue bolts. Smoke and flame billowed out- but no return fire.
The K"Ronarins continued firing until their reload signals beeped.
"Hold fire," called L"Wrona, peering through the drifting smoke. Slapping in a new chargepak, he advanced cautiously.
The blades lay in shattered heaps, slowly congealing rivulets of molten duraplast dripping on them from the lift"s ruined walls and ceilings.
"They just hovered there and took it," said S"Til, standing beside him, looking at the destruction.
L"Wrona looked at R"Gal, standing to the right of the lift. Meeting the captain"s gaze, he winked.
"Status of raid, D"Trelna?" asked S"Gan, her image appearing in the commodore"s comm screen.
"As per plan and schedule, Admiral," he said. "The diversionary force has landed atop the armory. Much shooting and shouting, but unable to advance off the rooftop. Intercepted communications show all Combine security groups are being vectored on the armory. L"Wrona will pull out on schedule, hopelessly outgunned. That great b.l.o.o.d.y firefight should continue to absorb them." He dialed for t"ata.
"Incidentally, Admiral, R"Gal just saved a lot of lives by jamming the blades" command and control frequencies."
"Great," said S"Gan. "Give him a medal. Anything from the real action yet?"
"No," said D"Trelna, sipping the t"ata but watching the tacscan-they"d accounted for the two guardships, but help was coming from the Combine base on the seventh planet-a lot of help. Time to worry about that later.
"We"ll only know about the "real action" if and when that force returns," he said, looking back at S"Gan.
"If they get back," said S"Gan. "I"m having Y"Kor pull Deliverance Deliverance back to omega blue three nine. We"ll intercept that incoming reaction force." back to omega blue three nine. We"ll intercept that incoming reaction force."
D"Trelna glanced again at the tacscan. "They"ll punch through you like a meteor storm, Admiral."
S"Gan shook her head and laughed. To the commodore"s surprise, it was a pleasant sound. "D"Trelna, they can"t kill this ship. We"re already dead. Ask FleetOps."
"But . . ."
She shook her head. "You do your job, D"Trelna. We"ll take care of the reaction force." She touched her commkey, then looked back up. "D"Trelna?"
"Admiral?"
"It"s up to you-stop those v"org slime."
"The AIs?"
She nodded.
"How?" He spread his hands helplessly. "We"re infiltrated, they"re on their way, and I"ve no faith in this magical weapon we"re after."
"Find some way to hit their rear, D"Trelna," said S"Gan. "Between you, R"Gal, K"Tran and the two trans.m.u.tes, you"ll think of something. . . . You"re an unorthodox slob, D"Trelna," she added. "You"ll pull it off. Luck."
"Luck," he said to an empty screen.
D"Trelna turned to the tacscan. Deliverance Deliverance was pulling out, heading straight for the-he counted-twenty-three Combine cruisers. Off to a very orthodox and very brief battle, thought the commodore. was pulling out, heading straight for the-he counted-twenty-three Combine cruisers. Off to a very orthodox and very brief battle, thought the commodore.
Crushing his cup, he stuffed it into the disposer.
Well, that was easy.
Now what? asked John-he had difficulty not speaking the words. asked John-he had difficulty not speaking the words.
Everything"s very neat-start reading those yellow labels over the cubicles. According to their computer index, those are finished prototypes awaiting testing.
Guan-Sharick had flicked them inside the complex-an instantaneous transition from cruiser to earth, over before the mind could react. Arriving after L"Wrona took the raiders in, they"d found the central lab building deserted, its personnel either in shelters or responding to the alarm.
Guan-Sharick had glanced briefly at the building locator in the lobby; then he and John were standing in a lab, instruments all about, looking through a gla.s.s wall at the complex. Half a dozen buildings were in flames, burning from the top down-fires triggered by the exchange of fusion bolts with the K"Ronarin shuttle. Ringed by those flaming towers stood the smaller black structure, with L"Wrona and the commandos still on the rooftop, now battling a sudden rush of human-seeming figures. AIs? wondered John. Or human helpers?
Human, reported Guan-Sharick. reported Guan-Sharick. Combine T"Lan has retainers-unwitting retainers, most of them. Combine T"Lan has retainers-unwitting retainers, most of them.
This isn"t what we want.
They"d moved on to another lab, the shrill and crash of blaster fire suddenly muted.
Unfinished projects lay everywhere, spread out like so many vivisected carca.s.ses on long white benches, presided over by the dead green eyes of inactive complinks.
Jump navigational aid-Mark IV. John read the duraplast label above the equipment cubicle, then stepped in.
The device looked like two giant-sized green ear swabs, each about a meter long, crossed diagonally and banded together in the center by a red nodule.
"Not much to-" he said as Guan-Sharick entered the small work area.
Fingers clamped over his mouth. Idiot! There"re voice sensors everywhere. Grab that device and we"ll go. Idiot! There"re voice sensors everywhere. Grab that device and we"ll go.